US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI3193

C O N F I D E N T I A L TAIPEI 003193 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, TW, Domestic Politics 
SUBJECT:  REDISTRICTING: SOMEBODY HAS TO DO TO IT 
 
REF: TAIPEI 2839 
 
Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reason(s): 1.4 (B/D). 
 
1.  (U) Summary:  The constitutional reform package passed by 
the National Assembly on June 7 requires Taiwan's Legislative 
Yuan (LY) electoral districts to be redrawn.  The Central 
Election Commission (CEC) is presently managing the task, 
which by law must be completed one year before the December 
2007 LY election.  As part of its "bottom-up" redistricting 
strategy, a CEC subcommittee has begun drafting "general 
redistricting guidelines," which will be distributed to local 
election commissions that will then draft the initial 
redistricting plans for CEC review.  CEC members expect the 
LY to try to take over the redistricting project when it 
convenes in September, and fear political divisions within 
the LY will further complicate the time-consuming 
redistricting process.  End summary. 
 
2. (U) On June 19, the CEC established a seven-member 
subcommittee to oversee redistricting procedures.  The DPP, 
KMT, PFP, and TSU each have one representative on the 
subcommittee, which also includes three independent members. 
Hwang Jau-yuan, a self-described "light green" (i.e. moderate 
DPP) non-party member, told AIT that the subcommittee decided 
last week to follow a "bottom-up" approach, enlisting local 
election commissions to draft preliminary redistricting plans 
according to "general redistricting guidelines" formulated in 
advance by the CEC.  The CEC would then use local plans to 
prepare the final redistricting plan.  By delegating 
preliminary drafting power to local authorities, Huang 
explained, the presidentially-appointed CEC hopes to avoid 
accusations of pro-DPP bias. 
 
3. (U) Hwang and KMT subcommittee representative Liu Kwan-hua 
separately told AIT that the redistricting process is under 
considerable time pressure because the new districts must be 
in place one year before the December 2007 LY election. 
Hwang said he expects the subcommittee to finalize and 
publish its "general redistricting guidelines" in August or 
September, and then set a tentative target date of March 2006 
for local election commissions to submit their draft 
redistricting plans.  Hwang noted that most election 
commissions would wait until after the December 3 city/county 
chief elections to deal with redistricting, since local 
leaders and local election commissions could change.  Holding 
to the CEC March  deadline would give the local commissions 
only three months to draft their plans. 
 
4. (C)  Hwang and Liu confided to AIT that, since the 
redistricting process will undoubtedly be difficult and 
politically charged, they and other members of the CEC 
secretly hope the LY will assume the responsibility. 
 
SIPDIS 
However, since time is short, and the LY may not make a 
decision for some time, the CEC and its subcommittee are 
working under the assumption that the task could remain 
theirs.  Hwang said DPP legislators will likely object to any 
redistricting proposal tendered by the Pan-Blue-controlled 
LY, forcing any bill into "cold storage" for four months, as 
required by LY procedural regulations.  This would mean the 
LY might not act on redistricting until January or February 
2006 at the earliest. 
 
5. (C) Comment:  Many opposition LY members see the 
presidentially-appointed CEC as nothing more than a political 
tool of the president.  For this reason, the 
Pan-Blue-controlled LY may move to strip redistricting 
authority from the CEC and confer it on an ad hoc LY 
committee.  The number of pressing issues awaiting LY 
consideration in September, however, including the Defense 
Procurement Special Budget, could divert LY attention and 
give the CEC time to move forward on its redistricting 
effort.  End comment. 
 
(Prepared by POL Intern Angela S. Wu.) 
 
PAAL